Some Mississippi teachers could become exempt from state income taxes

Republican leaders are fast-tracking a landmark overhaul of the state's current school funding formula.
Wochit

Some of Mississippi's public school teachers could be eligible for a state income tax exemption under a House proposal advancing in the state Legislature. House Bill 1550, authored by Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, would make new teachers eligible for a five-year tax break.(Photo: Kelly Price/Hattiesburg American)

Proposed tax breaks for Mississippi residents who receive a bachelor’s or post-graduate degree could be the lone policy addressing the state’s need for more qualified teachers to survive the 2018 session.

House Bill 1550, which passed by 180-0 last week, attempts to head off the exodus by offering a three-year state income tax exemption to these Mississippi residents. Under the proposal, K-12 teachers would be eligible for a five-year exemption.

More than a third of the state’s school districts are considered critical teacher shortage areas for having too many uncertified teachers or a high percentage of staff eligible for retirement. And the number of elementary education degrees awarded through the state’s traditional programs has decreased by more than 30 percent since 2010.

Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, Lamar, whose wife is a teacher, acknowledged one of the difficulties educators face “obviously has to do with pay.”

Lawmakers enacted a teacher pay raise in 2014, but Mississippi’s starting teacher salary trails that of its peer states of Alabama and Louisiana, according to a 2016 report by the Hechinger Report.

Lamar, the bill's sponsor, doesn’t expect the measure to be a silver bullet — for one, it still faces approval by the Senate and it's likely that additional revisions are needed, but he believes “this is a start.”

“Teaching should be one of our most honored and sought-after professions,” he said. “There’s probably no other profession that comes close to shaping and molding young people.”

The measure isn’t the only one that was filed this year to address some schools' staffing challenges.

Rep. Jarvis Dortch, D-Raymond, authored a bill that would have provided up to a $5,000 tax credit to teachers who remain in critical shortage areas for five years or more.

Dortch represents some of the rural school systems in Hinds County.

Principals there have told him of the struggle to retain teachers who have had to commute to Utica from as far away as Madison.

He hoped his bill, which is not expected to come up for a vote, might help curb some of those transportation costs.

Although Lamar’s bill isn’t targeted to critical shortage areas, Dortch, who voted for the measure, believes it could still be helpful.

It’s too early to determine the impact that Lamar’s policy will carry on stemming the state’s need for qualified teachers. For one thing, education majors are already among those most likely to remain the state. Roughly 80 percent of students who receive a degree in the field are still working in the state five years after graduation.

Mary Merkel, who is in her third year of teaching in Greenwood Public Schools, said pay isn’t the only deterrent for aspiring educators or reason that people leave the classroom.

“I think teacher burnout happens for a lot of reasons,” she said citing challenges like under-resourced and oversized classrooms and “too much paperwork that detracts from time spent teaching without counselors or interventionists to help.”

Legislative staffers are still evaluating the impact the bill could have on the state’s revenue and the legislation caps awarded tax credits at $5 million.

Lucy Kaplan, who is studying educational justice at Millsaps, said she would prefer for those funds to be directed back toward the classrooms.

“I’d rather pay taxes and know all of my students have textbooks,” Kaplan said.

Ariel Spencer, who is studying education at Ole Miss, said the measure “seems attractive” at first glance, but she believes a higher teacher salary is an overall better incentive.

The sophomore has considered seeking a job in the Madison County School District after graduation.

She’s also thought about moving to Texas.

HB 1550 was never presented as a comprehensive policy to solve the state's teacher staffing woes. And Lamar emphasized that teacher shortages and retention issues will likely warrant further legislative action in the future.

One person hoping for action is Adrienne Hudson.

Hudson is the executive director of Regional Initiatives for Sustainable Education or RISE and works with Delta schools that have been impacted by teacher shortages.

“We’re not providing a good service to our kids,” she said. “We all need to get one page and work together to fix it.”